[Crime Fiction] Cordite Books: Call for Submissions

Cordite Books, an imprint of Lagos, Nigeria based Parrésia Publishers Ltd, is calling on African writers of quality Crime Fiction to submit manuscripts. The winning manuscript will be published by Cordite Books and will receive a US$1,000 prize. Edited by award winning author, Helon Habila, Cordite intends to tap into a growing market for spy and crime fiction in Africa.

Submissions are welcome from published or unpublished authors; submission must be in the crime fiction genre; by an African author; set at least partly in Africa and be between sixty to eighty thousand words in length. Winners will be selected by the Editor. In addition to a publishing contract, the winning manuscript will get a cash prize of $1,000 [covering an advance on royalties]. Two runners-up will get cash prizes.

HELON HABILA

EDITOR

Submissions are open from August 7th, 2013 and will close on November 30th, 2013. The winning manuscript will be published mid 2014 and will be available all across Africa. Submissions should be uploaded using the submissions manager on the Cordite Books website only. Please read the Submissions Guidelines.

Parrésia’s Managing Editor, Azafi Omoluabi, said, “Cordite is meant to bring an African sensibility to the crime and spy fiction genre made famous by such writers as Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Le Carre, Agatha Christie, James Hadley Chase and Chesterton. Readers want their own local heroes, their own James Bonds and Sherlock Holmes, and why not, since espionage and crime happen in Africa just as anywhere else?”